st: problem calling macros using file write in a program

Hi everyone, long time reader, first time asker. I would very much
appreciate any light you could shine on this problem.
I am trying to write a short program to routinize my results output
using file write. Here is a short example of the function I am trying
to automate:
local model "Model 1. All states, no controls."
file open results using OLSresults.txt, write replace
file write results `"`model'"'
file close test
This works fine--my specified file has the local macro text written to
it and I know how to customize with tabs, new lines, and my regression
results.
However, I would think that the above routine could be made even
simpler with a program that would execute from within the .do file. I
have already written a small program in this manner to add stars for
significance to my regression output using a series of if statements
with tests on the p values file write commands. Therefore I thought
this would work:
program define writeit
file open results using OLSresults.txt, write replace
file write results `"`model'"'
file close test
end
local model "Model 1. All states, no controls."
writeit
Obviously the program would be longer with more steps to make it
useful. But even as written here executing the program writes nothing
to my file--with the replace command it wipes it clean but doesn't
write anything!?!
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tim
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